The present invention generally relates to computers and software, and more particularly to the testing of software.
One competitive advantage for a successful computer software application is the ability to rapidly update the product. One of the most costly tasks associated with the updating of software is the testing phase, which is performed to ensure that the final delivered software application meets certain quality requirements and correctly incorporates the updates. For example, tax preparation software needs to frequently and rapidly change to reflect changes in tax laws, and after each such change, the software needs to be thoroughly tested to ensure that the various calculations and other information in the generated tax return correctly incorporates the changes and otherwise has no errors.
Currently, one approach for testing software applications, such as a tax preparation software application, is to have experts specializing in the area relevant to the software application use selected input data and create known, correct output results based on the input data. For example, in tax preparation software, the experts complete tax returns using appropriate sample data. Then, the experts manually compare their known, correct tax returns against the tax returns generated by the updated application using the same sample input data, to see if any differences exist. This approach is extremely labor-intensive and is prone to errors. Further, this approach requires software companies to retain a large number of personnel that specialize in areas relevant to each software application. All these factors increase the costs associated with producing the software application.
Given the above limitations, there is a need for a more efficient way to test updated software applications.
Briefly, the present invention provides a system and method for automating the testing of software processing environment changes. Processing environment changes include any form of update to software, such as an update to a calculation within a software application, a change to components of a website, such as to web pages or the like. A user, typically an expert specializing in the area relevant to the processing environment (e.g., a xe2x80x9ctesterxe2x80x9d), creates a test representation that is assumed to be completely correct. The test representation includes sample input information, e.g., the data used to complete a tax return. The test representation may be saved as a file on a network drive. Typically, there are multiple testers each having one or more test representations. Information describing each of the test representations are input, e.g., via a website, by the testers and may be stored in a database at the website.
To test a changed processing environment, a comparison mechanism reads the information stored in the database and obtains a location for each of the test representations stored on the network drive. For each test representation, the comparison mechanism processes the inputs from the test representation and produces a generated output using the changed processing environment. The generated output is compared with a known-good output, saved in a key file, (if one exists yet) for that test representation. If the key file exists, and there are no differences resulting from the changed processing environment, i.e., the generated output matches the key file associated with the test representation, the comparison mechanism saves the generated output as a new key file and updates one or more tables. If any differences are found, an error is generated and sent to the tester, and both files (e.g., the key file and the subsequent generated output file) are saved for review by the tester. If no key file associated with the test representation exists, the generated output may be automatically saved as the key file for that test representation.
If an error has been logged against one of the tester""s test representations, the tester may be notified via the Internet, such as through email. Printing and specially formatted output (e.g., electronic tax returns) are handled similarly, with special rules enforced to test the compliance (e.g., order and format) of the resultant output with the required output.
In one embodiment, the generated output file is output as an XML (extensible Mark-up Language) file. Thus, the first time the test representation is processed, the generated output file is saved as an XML key file. In this way, the comparison mechanism performs the comparison using the XML files rather than the default file format associated with the application being tested. The XML files created in accordance with the present invention need not be order dependent. Any errors for the test representation may be stored in an error file, which may also be an XML file. This XML error file allows the tester to view the errors in the error file via the web without needing to use the application associated with the upgraded processing environment.
These and other aspects of the invention, together with the benefits and advantages realized, will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings, in which: